Strange Visitors
by Iceskatecraze
Summary: Matthew finds a letter written by the tactician, inviting his friends in the “real world” to Elibe. What will he do with this information? What will Mark’s friends do when invited to Elibe?


Title: Strange Visitors

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Do I seem intelligent enough to come up with such a brilliant game as this one? I didn't think so.

A/N: All the credit for this idea goes to Cheea5. She gave me the idea, and was my beta. I just wrote the story. So, without further ado…ENJOY!

Strange Visitors

There was rarely a time when Eliwood's entire army was in the camp doing nothing. There was always some group out on a scouting mission or hunting or going to nearby towns to get supplies and equipment. And of course, there were always battles. But on this particular day, everyone was in camp. Most of the army were either in their own tents relaxing or off somewhere with friends, doing who knows what. Mark, the group's tactician, was in his tent, writing a letter. He had been working for a couple hours, and was getting frustrated. He just couldn't seem to find the right way to write the letter. It was a simple enough letter to write, but it still seemed to be taking him forever. His wastebasket was overflowing with crumpled papers, and he had already wasted three bottles of ink.

"ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!"

"I didn't know that you're a pirate, Mark." Eliwood had just entered his tent. Although he was the leader of the army, he didn't always act it. He wasn't stupid, he was actually quite intelligent. He just wasn't very…smart. He was also very naïve. And naïve and not smart is a very bad combination.

"I am NOT a pirate, Eliwood," sighed Mark. "I am just trying to write a letter and I can't figure out how. I'm very frustrated."

"Oooo, maybe I can help. What is the letter about and who is it to?"

"I don't think you can help Eliwood." Although Eliwood meant well and was trying to help Mark, he was making him more frustrated. "But it would be nice to vent for a bit. Do you think you can manage to listen and then not tell anyone about this? I would like to keep this away from the army."

"Of course Mark! You can count on me!" Eliwood, of course, was lying, and couldn't wait to finish talking to Mark to go tell Hector and Lyn everything. He could only imagine what dark secret Mark was going to tell him.

"Well, I'm not actually from this…era." Mark was trying to say this in a way that Eliwood would not completely understand, but would still comprehend the general meaning.

"What's an era?" Eliwood was already confused. Mark knew this was going to be difficult.

"Let's just say, I come from a very different place." Mark was trying another tactic now. "And I have friends in this place. I haven't seen them for a while because I have been here, guiding this army. Now, I love this army, and I love guiding it, and I wouldn't like leaving it in the hands of someone else less competent then me, but I do miss my friends. So, I was going to invite them to come here."

"That sounds nice! Why don't you want the rest of the army to know?"

"Well, my friends have never been here before, and I'm not sure how they would feel about it. They have…read…about it, but I am not sure whether they would be able to handle visiting here." Mark knew the whole "we are really in a game and someone in my world is controlling everything that 

happens here" would confuse Eliwood beyond belief. In fact, it would even confuse Canas and Pent, the army's two most scholarly scholars.

"Well, they have read about it, so they should know what goes on here, right? But…how have they read about it? I didn't know there were books written about us…"

"Well…" Mark had no clue how he was going to get out of this one. He thought for a minute, then said, "I have sent them letters before. That is how they know what goes on here." It wasn't really a lie, Mark had sent them letters, but that wasn't how they knew what was going on.

"If you have sent them letters about us before, why is this one so much harder?" Eliwood was clearly confused.

"You know, I am not quite sure. Why don't you just go back to whatever you were doing, Eliwood. I think I know how to finish this letter." This, of course, was a lie, but Eliwood didn't need to know that.

"Ok, bye Mark!" And with that, Eliwood went back to whatever he was doing before.

Mark sighed, and began to write again. "Ok, this is the last time I am going to write this. Then I am just going to send it. So it better be good…" Finally, two hours later, Mark had finished his letter, no thanks to all the people who kept walking into his tent and distracting him. When he looked back, it was a wonder he had finished it at all, he had been distracted so many times.

"Oh! It is time for lunch. I wonder what Lowen has cooked today. I do hope he made that wonderful rabbit stew again. That was so delicious!" And with that, Mark left his tent, foolishly leaving his letter lying on the table in the middle.

Almost the whole army was in the center of camp, eating lunch. The only exceptions were Jaffar, who was sitting in his tent eating alone, Legault, who had mysteriously disappeared, and Matthew. Mark noticed this immediately after walking into the eating area, but wasn't concerned. Jaffar hardly ever ate with the rest of the camp, and Legault and Matthew were always disappearing. They were spies and thieves, after all.

What Mark had failed to notice, was that Matthew had been hiding outside of Mark's tent all morning. He had overheard Mark's conversation with Eliwood, and was very curious as to what this letter of his would say. He hid nearby, waiting for Mark to leave his tent. He was about to give up, when he had seen Mark leave and head for the center of camp. Matthew waited a few minutes to make sure Mark wouldn't return, then snuck into the tent. He had thought it would be difficult to find the letter, as Mark was not one to just leave his stuff lying around. But, to Matthew's surprise, the letter was lying on the table in the middle of the tent. He picked it up, read it, before sliding it into his pocket. He was very eager to read it to everyone after lunch. And with that, he hurried off to get some lunch before it was all gone.

During lunch, Matthew spread the word around that he had an announcement and everyone who was interested in hearing it should stay in the area after lunch. The only person who wasn't invited was Mark. Some people ignored this, remembering Matthew's last "announcement," in which he had read aloud from people's journals and diaries that he had snatched from their tents. Quite a few members of the army had not forgiven him yet, so they were not all that anxious to hear what Matthew was going to "announce" next. But when lunch was over, most of the army did stay to hear. Try as hard as they might, they all still enjoyed Matthew's antics, as there wasn't much else amusement to be had in an army camp.

When all who wanted to leave had left, and the rest had gathered around the fire pit, Matthew jumped up onto a bench and began to talk.

"Attention, comrades! I have something that may be of interest to you all!" He paused. "Then again, it may not." A few members of the army grumbled at this. They didn't want to be wasting their time for nothing of interest. "I have here a letter. It was written by…"

"This isn't another scheme to show someone's private secrets to the whole army again, is it Matthew?" This was Rebecca, one of the people who had had their diary snatched by Matthew previously.

"No, this isn't. This letter was written by our dear tactician, Mark."

A murmur of interest swept through the army. Mark kept his personal life in total secrecy from the army, as any smart person would, so any information about him was always keenly accepted.

"It is a letter to his friends in what he calls 'the real world.' If you are all interested, I will read it. Though, I wouldn't mind just putting it back…"

"No read it! We want to hear! What does it say?" Shouts from the army affirmed their want for information about their secretive tactician. Matthew grinned smugly.

"Well, I shall read it. I will only read it once, so listen close." And with that, Matthew began to read:

'Dear Friends,

It is I, Mark. I know I have not been in contact much, but I have a great opportunity for you. As you know, I have spent the last year or so in the world of Fire Emblem.'''

At this, many people in the army looked confused. One person spoke up. "Matthew, what is 'the world of Fire Emblem?'"

"I'm not sure," Matthew admitted, his ego deflated slightly. "But I believe it's this." He gestured at his surroundings. "Anyway, may I continue? Thank you." Matthew cleared his throat before reading again.

"'I have found this world to be incredibly fascinating, and I would now like to invite you to see for yourself. If you are interested, please send a response to this letter. I will then send you instructions on how to get here, along with the item you will need. Enclosed as well are directions for sending a letter back to me, as it is a different procedure when sending between two worlds.

'There are a couple things you should know about this world though. Although it can be controlled by people from our world, and virtually anything is possible here, there are things I will not permit you to request to see or have happen. I will not allow lemons, or limes, as I do not think that is appropriate for this army to be engaging in.'"

This rule brought many mixed responses from the army. Legault, who had magically shown up in time for Matthew's presentation, was looking at Heath in a dejected manner. Sain was also looking upset. Many of the others, though, were looking relieved, especially the girls, as they realized that they were safe from any potential Sain fan girls. Eliwood, of course, looked confused. He leaned over to Hector to ask what a lemon was and why they weren't appropriate for the army.

"I like lemons… Why aren't they allowed?" Hector just said he would tell him later.

"I like lemons too, Eliwood." This, of course, was Sain. This comment earned him a smack from Lyn and a reprimanding look from Kent.

"If I may continue…" Matthew was getting annoyed at not having everyone's attention. It took a few minutes, but he finally got everyone calmed down enough to go on.

"'I will allow romance, and if you must, it can be yaoi or yuri, although you might not want to do that. It can get kind of strange around here…'"

Again, many of the members of the small army looked at each other. There were knowing glances, shared looks, and fearful stares flying all over the place.

"'If you are going to request a pairing, please no crack pairings. There is no reason to go inventing things that are not there.'"

This rule was completely lost on the army as a whole, as nobody knew what a "crack pairing" was.

"'There are probably other rules, but I cannot think of them at the moment. I will let you know if I come up with anymore. Again, I look forward to seeing you again, and introducing you to the wonders of this world. Sincerely,

Mark'"

A moment of silence ensued the finishing of the letter, and then the army burst into talk, laughter, and speculation. Matthew again called order to his comrades and began speaking again.

"Well, it looks like we will be receiving some visitors soon." Matthew had a devilish gleam in his eyes that made some in the crowd shudder. "Now, Mark can't know that we know about this, so nobody say anything. I will be on the lookout for responses, as I intercept all the mail that comes through here one way or another. Now, I have to get this back to Mark's tent before…"

"MATTHEW!!"

"Blast, Mark has noticed it's gone apparently. Well, I better be off. If Mark comes over here, you all know nothing about his letter."

And with that, Matthew was off.

"Was Matthew over here?" Mark stared around the army, wondering who was going to give the answer he already knew.

"Haven't seen him. Didn't he disappear awhile ago? What would he be doing over here?"

The whole army was willing to stick up for Matthew for once, as he had just provided them with useful information, a first in a long time.

Mark questioned his army for a little while longer, hoping somebody would cave, but when nobody did, he was forced to return to his tent and look for his letter. When he got back, he found his letter on the table, right where he had left it last time he had left.

"Maybe I am going crazy…" But at this, even Mark had to laugh. "Of course, Matthew would be able to get the letter back before I returned. I probably am crazy, but this is no signification. Oh well, time to mail my letter."

A/N: This story is based solely on reviews. Feel free to tell me what you would like to see in future chapters. Like Matthew said, I will write romance. I will attempt yaoi or yuri if it is requested, but I have never tried it, so it may not work. Matthew told you the rules and I am going to stick to them. I would like to keep this at a T rating, so please nothing too graphic. I hate begging for reviews, but this is one story that really can't be continued without them. Most of the chapters will be based on only one review, but if I get too many, I will write longer chapters that are split between two or three reviews. Anyways, this is the first time I have seen a story like this, so I don't know how it will turn out. So, enjoy the story!


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